The Ghost of Kaon
by Guardinthena
Summary: Strange things begin happening in the rebuilt city of Kolkular. Power is minimum, lights flicker, doors open, the base moans, and the shadows seem to dance.  Thundercracker starts to loose it, rambling on about 'energy creatures' in the training room...
1. Chapter 1, The Rebirth of Kolkular

**The Ghost of Kaon (or) The Ghost in the Training Room – Revised**

Genre: Horror

Bio: There's a ghost haunting the rebuilt city of Kolkular, Megatron's original base of operations long ago when the war first started. It continuously tries to get Thundercracker's attention, and the jet begins to go mad. He begins rambling on about the 'energy creature' to his friends, and finally outright attacks them. After putting him down, the Decepticons begin to discover truth to his words, and that this ghost won't rest until the truth behind its death is revealed.

**Authors Note:** For all legal purposes the Transformers© belong to their appropriate owners, however the characters Twilight Ep'ticon, Thunderstar, and Phage are mine. For those of you thinking I forgot Sky, I didn't, but due to changes with her background story that have evolved over the course of the years since I created them, I can no longer lay claim to her. I won't say anymore about that, as it would become a spoiler!! As for the character Bebop, I cannot also claim total ownership over her since I based her off of the red fembot that is seen in Transformers: The War Within comic series. It's only a single shot, but I took an immediate interest in the character and decided to create Bebop, Jazz's sister.

**WARNING** I like to write rather detailed, graphic fanfics and stories, and seeing as how this is a horror story with a vengeful ghost with a tale to be told of a ten million year old murder and treachery, I don't doubt that some people of weak-will won't find this pleasing at all. If you are such a person than I advise that you please read something else.

**P.S.** – While I was revamping Twilight, Thunderstar, and Sky for this revised fanfic, I also came up with their voice actors that I thought would be good for their characters. They are listed below, including which movies they starred in so you can know what voice actors I'm talking about. Phage's voice is my own, so imagine some young, rich-childish tomboyish voice. (I don't know why my voice sounds so young, I'm 18, but I shouldn't ask questions I suppose) :D

Twilight Ep'ticon – voice actor Emma Thompson.

Did the voice acting for Captain Amilia, the feline captain of the ship in _'Treasure Planet.'_

Extract from Treasure Planet: Scene: On board the R.L.S. Legacy. First time meeting Captain Amilia.

_**Captain Amilia**_: (shaking Gilbert's hand) 'I'm Captain Amilia. Had a few run-ins with the Proton Armada. Nasty business but I won't bore you with my scars. You've met my first officer Mr. Arrow. Sterling, staff, honest, dependable, and true.'

_**Mr. Arrow:**_ 'Please Captain.'

_**Captain Amilia:**_ 'Oh shut up Arrow you know I don't mean a word of it.'

Sky – voice actor:

Sorry, I can't tell you what movie and/or series she starred in, otherwise it would be a giveaway to who Sky really is. You'll find out soon though, I promise!! Well, I shouldn't say soon. You won't learn of her identify in THIS fanfic, sorry. (Turn and runaway from angry mob)

Thunderstar – voice actor Catherine Zeta-Jones

She preformed the voice acting for Marina in the animated movie, '_Sinbad-Legend of the Seven Seas.'_

Okay, I'm done wasting your time with this nonsense. Onto for what you came for!

* * *

_**'Can't remember my name, can't remember at all**_

_**Finding you from past times, I think…**_

_**How did we ever fall?'**_

_-Godsmack, Now or Never_

Chapter 1, Rebirth of Kolkular

He felt his body lifting into the air, felt the forces around him pop and crackle with energy as gravity began to turn in on itself and breakdown. He was elevated off the ground, crimson optics skyward and a smile of a laugh beginning to twist his silver faceplate.

The final stage of the war was at hand after so many countless battles, so many millions of years…

It had come at last.

The thunderous mechanisms of the spacebridge boomed all around him, deafening his audios and drumming out the furious cries from Optimus Prime and his wild laser fire meant to damage the spacebridge, or at least shoot the mech of the center of his hatred. The silver mechaniod standing within the spacebridge's ringed center relaxed, shutting off his optics for a brief moment as he allowed all the commotion to wash away, Prime's screams and curses to come back, the pounding of his laser fire… he let the monstrous roar of the spacebridge carry it all away like a sweet lullaby into oblivion.

'_There's no stopping me this time Prime,' _the fearsome tyrant thought distantly, sweetly, _'Cybertron is mine!'_

He took one final moment to register the sound of Prime's rifle pounding against the sides of the spacebridge, but it was too late. The spacebridge unleashed its energies and shot its occupants forward into the sky, concentrating on a faraway pinpoint out of visual range. The sunlight beating down onto the Earth twisted and bent, forming a multitude of colors as it arched skyward, then finally solidified into a single, blinding beam of bright starry white light.

Megatron felt all sense of gravity forsake the area within the spacebridge and at last achieve weightlessness. Something not even their innate flight ability could do. He could no longer feel the weight of his own body as the primitive forces of the spacebridge propelled him, Starscream, Soundwave and his other chosen Decepticons into the air along the path of light back to their home world, their beloved home world.

Cybertron.

As he and his Decepticons, along with the hoard of energon they had managed to steal, were sent spinning through the air and space itself, they were quickly gaining speed towards the distant endpoint of their destination. As the farther and farther away they got from Earth, the less and less Megatron could hear Prime's last words. He was screaming out his name in utter frustration and rage.

This time Megatron did laugh.

* * *

It took all his concentration to stay on the path of light through space as he flew by at unbelievable speeds. Stars, time, even his own self became a blur. Things, places, names began to drift into the mists of time, but through his own renowned determination, that same strength of mind that had gotten him where he was now, he maintained himself and his path, kept hold of his body as it seemed to stretch and bend in ways it should never be bent. 

Then, just as it seemed that his body had been stretched as far as it could go, just when he thought it would snap halfway between Cybertron and Earth, his body began to condense; he began to feel a twinge of the forces of gravity. Looking down he saw Cybertron in his view and it quickly expanded, growing larger and closer with ever nanosecond. He was falling down out from outer space – if that were possible – crashing down, breaking orbit, fire and weight exploding across his entire metallic structure. Pain lashed out and attacked every servo in his body, then –

--nothing.

All physical pain drained away from his titan frame as he felt his feet touch down on solid metal ground, only a minor electrical surge was left skipping willy-nilly throughout his system. Megatron blinked against the sudden darkness that engulfed his vision, finding it a strain compared to the blinding bright Earth light he had just left behind, but quickly dismissed it as a pair of doors opened up before him and permitted in another light. Electrical light.

The lights beyond flickered as the door opened.

Poor, dim electrical lighting.

"Ah, Lord Megatron, I take it that the mission was a success?"

Megatron stepped quickly out of the contained spacebridge landing and stepped out into the opened space of the old and very familiar command room. It had been the very one of which he had plotted and slowly planned out the entire beginning to his war. He stepped out into the Cradle, painstakingly repaired over the last decade, and into the old fortress of Kolkular in Kaon.

Stepping out of the dark, cylinder spacebridge receiver that Shockwave had added to the command room and into the light of his old command room, his roots, he held his bulky, strong arms out, deactivated his optics, and breathed in the new metal smell. With a sigh – and a smile – he chuckled.

Slowly he reactivated his fiery, crimson optics as he heard a grumbling from Starscream behind him, along with the footsteps of Soundwave, Skywarp, and Thundercracker as they stepped out from the spacebridge. He didn't even pay them any attention as he addressed Shockwave's question.

"Success?! Feast your optic unit on these energon cubes! Enough fuel to get this fortress back up and running at peak efficacy and still have enough left over to reactivate a couple of our fellow Decepticons you have locked away in status, Shockwave! The end of the Autobots rule on Cybertron is at hand. Soon they shall lay crushed beneath our very feet!"

The large purple Decepticons' single golden optic fell on the hover carts that Skywarp, Thundercracker, Starscream and Soundwave rolled into the room. And it glowed with hunger. On each hover cart was a small mountain of energy in itself. More than he had seen in millions of years.

"Impressive, Lord Megatron. These stacks will surely be enough to begin our operations, but what about when we run low? There will be more coming I presume?"

"Tch," Megatron grumbled as he stretched out his arm and snatched an energon cube off from Starscream's pile, much to the Seeker's annoyance. The mighty leader of the Decepticons examined the inner light that seemed to emanate out from the pinkish liquid. In his haste to grab it the contents spilt out and splattered his black hand, illuminating it softly much as the inner light from the cube reflected off his silver arm and face, casting strange shadows upon him. The lighting in the Cradle had yet to reach full operational status and it was considerably dim, only further helping to cast the intimidating Decepticon into eerie shadows. The shadows themselves played all the more deeply across his stern, chiseled features, on them, casting shadows here and there all about. And Megatron's visage, as his fellow Decepticons gazed upon his awesome frame, was all the more intimidating by it. He seemed, almost, like a ghost with his silver paint scheme.

Untouchable, undefeatable.

"If the Constructicon's and my other Decepticons on Earth can manage to hold off Prime and the rest of his do-goody Autobots from the siphoning zone, then yes."

Megatron took one last look at the cube containing the precious liquid that their species needed to survive and then downed it with gusto. The energon tasted different from the Cybertron energon he used to drink long ago when it was abundant and they didn't need to synthesize it, - which was admittedly terrible. This had a different taste to it, not like the old stuff that had a zing and a kick, but this was more… thick but smooth, tangy. There was just this extra boost to it that was additive, nourishing, but intoxicating. He couldn't quite place it, but as the Decepticons had come to call the Earth energon, they referred to it and its different taste as 'Mother' energon. Or when they were more knocked off their rockers, M-gon.

As the first of the Earth energon touched his lips the lights in the Cradle suddenly flickered overhead and an eerie groan echoed up from deep beneath their feet, rising quickly to the higher levels of the fortress. It sounded like the metal frame of the rebuilt stronghold was settling all at once, or preparing to fall apart. That or that it had breathed in and growled in frustration, blowing hot air up through its empty pipes from the planet's depleted core.

Everyone froze in the room as the eerie moan of the building began low as soon as the lights began to flicker, then quickly grew in intensity, as if the source of the settling was within that very room. Megatron lifted the energon cube away from his lips and narrowed his crimson optics, staring suspiciously around the room as his audios tuned in too the howling within the walls.

Starscream and the jets stepped away from the carts and closer together in a circle, backs to each other; ready to blast off it the fort began to crumble down around them as they looked about worriedly. Soundwave, as usual, was unreadable, but his stance suggested his own uneasiness as he gazed up to the lights and then slowly around the room. Shockwave gave little to no emotion at all. It seemed that he was almost…used to such a thing.

As soon as it had come the noise stopped, running off further into the pipes into the upper levels of the fortress above. The lights returned to normal function, or as close to optimum as they could get, and the settling of the room quieted until everything returned to normal. The quiet solitude silence of the humming of the machinery of the fort was audible again, grinding and turning away as if nothing had happened.

Megatron tore his optics away from the lights and narrowed them on Shockwave. "I thought you said that the foundation was substantially solid."

"I did, Lord Megatron. My drones have fixed up most of this place since you requested its reconstruction. It has been doing that of late ever since I rerouted the electrical lines and returned minimum power to Kolkular."

"Then why don't you have the drones fix it? It doesn't sound at all stable." The silver tyrant languished with irritation as if he thought that Shockwave was an idiot for not having checked it out sooner.

Shockwave wisely stepped back a pace from Megatron, even though he was already far out of reach, and straightened, folding his arms behind his back and grasping his hands together as he reported, "My maintenance drones have been down to the power room and found nothing amiss. I believe that a steam pipe might have cracked somewhere along the framework of the fort and that my diagnostics have yet to locate the fissure. Either that or the fault lies somewhere in the cities power plant, which is also a logical assumption. The plant has not been visited in years."

"Well," Megatron ground out in his gravel-tone voice, his words taking on a sharp edge to them to announce his agitated state. "It would seem that the problem lies in the circuitry of your drones! Soundwave, I want you to discover the damaged pipeline and repair it at once! Last thing we need is the entire place crumbling down around our heads because your drones Shockwave, couldn't detect a simple crack in a pipeline!"

"Yes Lord Megatron." Both Soundwave and Shockwave intoned at once in their own impassive ways, and then sharply looked across the length of the Cradle at one another. Both Soundwave's golden optical band and Shockwave's single glowing optic flashed with a burst of bitter rivalry that dated back countless millennia.

Megatron hardly paid any attention to the two as he whipped around on Starscream and the jets and commanded, "Skywarp, Thundercracker, Starscream…place those energon cubes into storage. Afterward, I want you three to go down to the power plant and inspect the area there. If you find any fault there, report back to me at once."

"Yes Megatron." Skywarp and Thundercracker resounded together and began pushing their own appropriate hover carts out of the room. Soundwave followed suit with his own, while Starscream sounded off with his usual sarcastic "Yes _Lord _Megatron." And left as well.

Megatron rolled his optics as he watched them leave. Once again he brought the energon cube to his mouth, in need of something to alleviate the headache he felt coming on, and began finishing it off. As he was he began to turn about to Shockwave as Soundwave was stepping out of the room, but stopped instantly and snapped his head back over his shoulder, lowering the cube from his mouth.

He was just in time to spy the back of Soundwave's body just as the automatic doors slid shut on him. Megatron blinked. Had he just seen a body move in the shadows after them?

"Something wrong, Megatron?" Echoed Shockwave's toneless voice from what seemed to be a long distance off.

Megatron surmised it to be the poor lighting in the room and thought nothing more about it. "No. Nothing. Shockwave, I'd like to examine the current schematics for Kolkular and field reports of Autobot activity."

"As you command."

* * *

"Why do I get stuck on repair duty? I should be up there planning marvelous strategies or blowing apart Autobots!" 

"Will you put a screw in it Starscream? The action's bound to pick up soon enough!"

"Yeah." Thundercracker concurred with Skywarp as the elevator door slid open. The three Seekers pilled off, taking their loads of energon cubes with them. Soundwave, regretfully, followed after to deposit his own.

The usually quiet Decepticon stepped off of the elevator and hastily entered into the storage room, more than a little annoyed with the Seekers constant arguing and wanting to get away from them as quickly as possible. Starscream, Skywarp, and Thundercracker didn't even notice as Soundwave cut away from them, placing his at a separate pile from there's.

"Action?" Starscream whined in his high-pitched voice that reminded Soundwave of nails on a chalkboard, or so the Earth saying went. "What action? I bet we won't see a lick of it. Chances are once we arrive at the Autobots HQ they'll surrender right on the spot!"

As soon as he could Soundwave turned around and practically ran back to the elevator, but upon reaching it he hesitated, realizing that Starscream and his gang were practically already at the door themselves. And their latest argument was far from over.

Joy for him.

He allowed them to board and waited, rather annoyed, against the corner as the elevator took them back up where the Seekers would be getting off.

"No way, Starscream!" Skywarp shot back. "Autobots never surrender! You know that! They'll fight to the bitter end even when they know they never stood a chance. Heheh, that's what makes my job so much fun!"

"Don't be ridiculous, Skywarp! Ultra Magnus and that pathetic Autobot Council know that they're outmatched in every field! When we spring our final attack they'll have no choice but to surrender or flee!"

One floor went by.

"Have you got a screw loose? Ultra Magnus would never back down from a fight. He'll be gunning to take a few of us down with him!"

"No they won't!" Starscream bit back.

Soundwave watched as another floor ticked by.

"Yeah they–"

The lights flickered overhead.

_Tin_g! There went another floor. Only four more –

Soundwave's blood red visor glowed in befuddlement as he snapped out his hands to steady himself as the elevator came to a sudden jerk. Starscream, Skywarp, and Thundercracker were thrown off balance for a moment, but the three quickly regained it and looked around them and then up at the level number in confusion, their argument temporarily stalled.

"What in the Pitts was that?" Skywarp complained.

He had barely gotten the words out of his vocalizer when the door slid open to reveal the Rec Room for the Barracks level. Starscream, Skywarp and Thundercracker took one look at the Rec Room and then back up at the level the sign above the door indicated. Starscream was the first to put it together.

"Hey!" He snapped. "What gives? This isn't even the right floor!"

"Maybe Shockwave didn't wire the cables right. Try pressing six, section three to get us to the hanger bay."

"Such a brilliant idea, Thundercracker. Why don't you press it yourself?"

Thundercracker glared icily back at Starscream and was just opening his mouth to make a retort when Skywarp's purple and black arm snapped itself up in Thundercracker's face. "Look!"

Starscream, Thundercracker, and Soundwave's attention was drawn off into the direction that Skywarp was pointing. The lights in the Rec Room flashed on and off ominously then stopped just as suddenly. It was only a nanosecond after that that the door opposite them drew open and the hallway lights flickered beyond.

Not a single one of them moved from the elevator.

In fact, Thundercracker stepped further _back_ into the elevator. His stuttering tongue gave away his impending fear. "I-I'm sure that's just a coincidence, right Starscream?"

"Uh…right." Starscream said as he busied himself with trying to get the elevator to move again, but no matter how many times he pressed level six, sector three, or level fourteen for command, he got no response.

Growing impatient, Skywarp whipped around on Starscream and snapped out angrily, "What's taking so long?"

"The controls aren't responding!" Starscream whined in his high pitched voice as he frantically began hitting all the buttons.

"Let me see them!" Skywarp growled out as he shoved Starscream aside to the back of the elevator and began hitting the buttons himself. Still nothing happened. "I don't get it! What's wrong with this stupid thing? Soundwave, you're the technical 'bot. Help me!"

"Affirmative."

Soundwave pushed pass Thundercracker to get at the control panel. It was plain, though his harmonic voice did not portray it, that he was just as anxious as the rest of them. Skywarp stepped aside as Soundwave knelt before the panel. Already the Transformer tape deck had transformed his pointer finger into a screw driver and was busying himself with getting the bolts off of the panel. All the while he worked he kept scanning the area over nervously with his telepathic powers, trying to detect any other mental wavelengths besides there own. He didn't do it because he actually believed there was somebody there messing with them, but out of habit. When he typically got nervous or anxious, especially out on the battlefield or before battle, he'd activate his powers.

As he got the first undone he began to move to the second screw, and it was on that one that Soundwave inwardly paused and tried to calm his raging emotions. Why exactly was he even feeling frightened? There was obviously just some faulty line down in the power room like Shockwave had said. That was all. That was it.

He got the second done and moved to the next.

It was all just really bad timing that the elevator would fritz on this floor, and that the door on the other side of the lounge would fritz as well and open. Probably the whole level was on the blink. That's probably what was wrong.

That one came out and he moved to the final screw. The Seekers hovered behind, as far away from the door as possible, with Starscream at the very back where he had been tossed awhile ago.

Calming down through his own logic, Soundwave stopped scanning the minds of the Transformers around him. He was only detecting Starscream, Skywarp, and Thundercracker behind him and Megatron and Shockwave further up, not to mention some droids hovering about on different floors doing their own menial tasks. The Seekers were trying to calm their own selves down through their own personal pep talks while Megatron and Shockwave up above were simply going over the strengths and weaknesses of the base.

_…the base isn't at full power._

_Of course not, Megatron. Cybertron has been dry of energon for years. Its bare optimal status is simply through the energon that you've managed to send my way over the years._

_I've noticed that you have mechanisms running that don't need to be. If we divert its power we could support more of Kolkular's immediate functions that we need now and save on our energon supplies._

_Of course. We'll do that now._

Soundwave silenced his telekinetic powers, and with it – his worries. He had already stripped the control panel of its cover and sat kneeling before it, staring into the series of wires and bare buttons beneath. He took a deep breath, chasing away the scattered remains of the rest of his unduly fears and began to replace the covering.

"What are you doing Soundwave? You haven't even analyzed it yet." Skywarp cracked out.

"There is no need." The large blue Decepticon answered as he began screwing back in the first bolt. "We've simply overacted, most likely due to the fact that we've just come out of battle and are still a little jumpy. Megatron and Shockwave are rerouting power now. Perhaps that'll help the power systems on this level."

"How do you know – oh!" Starscream began but was interrupted as the elevator jerked as if preparing to go up, but it didn't. For a brief second in time the lights in the Rec Room came on full power they used to back eons ago before the base had been destroyed by the Autobots. The lights in the corridor as well stopped flickering and came on full power just before the door, both doors, slid shut. Only once they were safe inside the elevator with the door securely locked did the metal box jerk once more and began along its course.

The weight that was lifted from their shoulders was dully noticeable. To each of the 'Con's own degrees they took in their own breath of relief, glad for the relative safety, if not boring, presence of the elevators four walls. They never realized how safe they'd felt before within its reaches until then.

The ride over to level ten, sector one was deathly quiet. The four Decepticons stood silent for once within the elevator as it came to the tenth level, came to a slow, steady stop, and then proceeded sideways, pushed along by its magnetic railings and hover power. Another twenty seconds passed by at the pace of a thousand years to each second, and then the elevator came to a stop once more. For one spark pounding moment that seemed to encompass an eternity, the automatic door slid open once again and revealed to them, not the Rec Room, but the hanger bay. Starscream, Skywarp, and Thundercracker departed off the lift with a mixed aura of caution and speed. Once they were sure they'd come to the correct room this time they started more quickly across the empty hanger towards the missing wall at the end where the dark night sky shined down upon them. The stars Soundwave noted, were once again changed from last he saw them.

They were always changing. There were always different constellations in the night sky, ever since the day millions of years ago when Megatron activated Cybertron's ancient thrusters and rocked the planet from its orbit.

A bark of laughter broke him from his reverie and the faceless Decepticon snapped his attention over to the source of the laughter. He identified the Destroyer of Silence for none other than Skywarp, who quickly ceased in his guffawing and went on to say loudly, "We are such idiots! Can you imagine, us getting frightened over a bunch of flickering lights? Man, Soundwave was right, we must have still been on edge after the battle. We are such losers."

"Speak for yourself!" Starscream's voice as heard to say.

By then the three Seekers had reached near the end of the hanger. They all took a running start and jumped simultaneously, transforming in mid-flight to their jet modes and blasting off out of the hanger. Still, over the boom of their thrusters Soundwave could still hear them, and Starscream's continued reply.

"Now pay attention, Skywarp! There could be Autobots nosing about in this sector."

"Yeah well I wish there was, because I gotta round of laser waiting for 'em!"

The conversation faded away and Soundwave stood transfixed to his spot, hoping now in his moment of peace and silence to hear their annoying arguments and conversations, but he couldn't pick them up anymore with his normal audio receptors, only the sound of their roaring thrusters touched his audios, and even that was getting dim.

He couldn't say for how long he stood there, staring out the opened elevators doors, but if asked he could have answered that he had stood there long enough to watch Starscream, Thundercracker, and Skywarp disappear upon the horizon into their own stars, and then into nothingness from that. He could have said that he stood there long after that, staring out into the black night sky filled with stars, thinking about nothing really and yet…everything. Finally, almost as if in a trance, he lifted his large metallic finger up to press in the level and sector he wanted to go to and then stopped. He snatched his attention away from the tantalizing, quiet heavens and to the control panel. Behind his visor he squinted hard at it, almost as if he expected it to be plotting some new ominous trick against him. Not that that was possible.

Soundwave turned his gaze away from the panel and back out to the hanger, then to the panel again and his finger hovering just above the button labeled 'power room.' He made up his mind and stepped off of the elevator into the hanger. He turned a sharp corner and came up short to the wall next to it, where another sliding door and a panel rested. Soundwave amply laid his hand on the panel, allowing it to scan his hand print, and then entered onto the stairway that the door slid back to reveal.

If the power went on the fritz again he wanted to be able to reach whatever level he desired, and not be trapped again. At least he could blast down any doors along the stairway if the power did give out.

* * *

Kup dropped the binoculars from his optics and simply went to watching the three Seekers fly off across the ruined landscape of Kaon, also referred to as the Wastelands. A disgruntled look crossed over his aging face as he watched them go. Quietly he whispered, "Starscream, Thundercracker, and Skywarp. Great." 

He began to fade back into the shadows of the apartment building they were using for cover, and as he went he tapped the shoulder strut of the young fiery red, yellow, and orange 'bot next to him and signaled for him to follow him back into the crumbling building.

Feeling the tap on his shoulder, Hotrod lowered his own binoculars, which he had trained on the disappearing jets, and glanced back over his shoulder to his mentor, Kup. Noticing that the old sea grey Autobot was retreating back into the safety of the room of the crumbling skyscraper they had taken refuge in for their mission, Hotrod followed.

Once out of range of view from outside Kup grumbled audibly and headed for the two-way communicator sitting on the floor of the apartment. For some long time the crumbling apartment skyscraper had been the base of many Autobot spy missions on Shockwave's activities in Kaon, now, after watching for nearly a decade, wondering why in the name of Cybertron he was rebuilding Kolkular, things were starting to make a bit of sense.

At least, Hotrod thought they were beginning to make a bit of sense.

"Blasted Decepticons." Kup mumbled as he began tinkering with the device trying to get it to work.

"What?" Hotrod supplied, stepping over to his kneeling comrade and peering over his shoulder as he struggled to get the old outdated machine to work.

"That was Starscream and his buddies Thundercracker and Skywarp." Kup grunted.

"Who?"

Kup tossed the young 'bot a glance before he returned it back to his work. "Some 'Cons you don't know but should have at least learned about in history. They were part of Megatron's elite that went missing and reappeared when we got back in touch with Prime. Starscream's supposed to be second in command of the entire Decepticon army, and for good reason too. If you ever cross him lad, never take your optics off him for a second, and don't listen to a word he says either. Lying, cheatin' rusted bucket of bolts."

Hotrod looked less than impressed by the mention of the Decepticon names and simply shrugged his shoulders to show for the lack of effect this had on him. He had been created some short time after the _great _Optimus Prime and his elite Autobots, including Megatron his elite Decepticons, had left Cybertron five million years ago. The name _Megatron_ didn't strike the fear that it did in him as it did in the older Autobots, nor did anything pertaining too him. Those Transformers, only recently found on Earth, were mere legends to him.

Even now with them for sure being alive just didn't do for him what it did for his older weary Autobot comrades. He didn't feel that _spark_ of hope like Ultra Magnus, Emirate Xxoran, Kup, the Council, and the rest of the Autobots now showed. Yes, they were alive but so what? Had they come back to Cybertron after finding it? No. They had returned back to the planet Earth to protect it when Cybertron still needed them. Why did Ultra Magnus and everyone else now bend and take orders from some leader they hadn't seen or obeyed in five million years? That was millions of light years away? Why?

Why should he care about legends?

…About Autobots and Decepticons he had never even met, in person or on battle.

Hotrod began to look around the crumbling room, bored out of his mind as Kup went about trying to establish a secure connection. Part of the floor over in the north-west corner had fallen through, revealing the level below. The door to the room stood open a foot from the hole, revealing the dark, grey hallway beyond. A Transformer sized sofa was against the east wall and next to it, further south, was another door leading into the side-bedroom. What had once been a rather extravagant balcony and window wall was now gone, the large pummeled wall that they often peeked through to spy on Kolkular now took its place.

With a sigh of sheer boredom Hotrod crossed his arms over his chest and lent to one side was he waited for something exciting to happen.

"Stop sighing, lad." Kup whispered hotly up at him as his fingers danced across the device's keypad. "You'll attract attention."

"What attention?" Hotrod groaned as he rolled his optics and held out his arms, as if trying to encompass the entirety of the dark, empty room. "We're the only two here!"

Kup shot him a hard, cold look that shut him up on the spot. He turned his attention back to the communicator and flipped a final switch. Static greeted their audios, and it was a pleasant sound next to the absolute silence that had pervaded them for hours before.

The old sea grey Autobot leaned up close to the mouth piece and spoke into it. "Hello, Alpha A this is unit Deep K. Do you respond?"

There was hardly a moment's pause from the other end of the line.

_Deep K this is Alpha A. What is your status? Over._

The barest faint of a smile played upon Kup's lips as he recognized the familiar deep voice of Ultra Magnus. "We report something funny going on down here, Alpha A. We have three Seekers in the air, identified as Starscream, Thundercracker, and Skywarp. Over."

_Starscream, Thundercracker, and Skywarp?_

"That's correct. There was a spacebridge jump roughly twenty minutes ago. I accounted for five light pulses coming into Kolkular. None going out. Now we have three Seekers in the air heading for what looks like power plant for the city."

There was a long moment of silence from the other end, then finally Ultra Magnus responded, _Good work Deep K. I want you to follow those jets. See what their up too. Once you've discovered their intentions report back ASAP. Alpha A over and out._

"Alright you heard the 'bot." Kup said as he shut off the communicator and got to his feet. "Let's hit the road."

"Finally! All that sitting around was causing my servos to rust!"

* * *

Megatron turned sharply away from Shockwave and stared long and hard at a screen next to him. A yellow light flashed on and off, detailing each note and pitch of the two voices that he and Soundwave now heard coming over the intercom. The screen recorded the vocal variations of the two 'bots. 

_Starscream, Thundercracker, and Skywarp? _

_That's correct. There was a spacebridge jump roughly twenty minutes ago. I accounted for five light pulses coming into Kolkular. None going out. Now we have three Seekers in the air heading for what looks like the power plant for the city. _

_Good work Deep K. I want you to follow those jets. See what their up too. Once you've discovered their intentions report back ASAP. Alpha A over and out. _

A wicked grin spilt across his lined silver face. "Well, well, well. What have we here?"

"It would appear that we have an Autobot infestation." Shockwave lamented, already climbing to his feet. "I apologize for this breech, Lord Megatron. I did not take proper precautions when I began operations in the area. I will eradicate these pests as quickly as possible."

"Belay that." Megatron said, raising his black hand and signaling for Shockwave to sit himself back down. "I have a better use for them than as scrap metal." The Decepticon commander than reached over and activated the secured com.line. "Starscream, come in."

_What do you **want **now? Sneered Starscream's voice over the lines._

"Don't you dare take that tone with me Starscream." Megatron growled into the intercom, his crimson optics flashing for a moment in irritation. "I have some very intriguing information that you and your Seekers might find interesting."

_Oh? And what's that?_

"You have an Autobot spy trailing you. I want you to bring him to me, _alive_." To emphasize his last word and the importance of 'alive,' Megatron clenched his large metal hand into a fist. Shockwave only sat there and stared.

_An Autobot? Ooh! My day just got a lot better! Starscream over and out!_

Megatron reared back from the intercom and turned it off, a gleam in his optics and in his smile. Shockwave knew that smile. Even after being separated from his leader for five million years, he still had four million years of memory in his databanks to recall it.

"Shall I prep the persecution chamber, Lord Megatron?"

Still grinning, Megatron turned to Shockwave, and nodded. "I have a feeling Shockwave, that we'll soon discover the hidden base of the Autobot army still here on Cybertron very, very soon."

* * *

"Did you hear that Skywarp? We've got an Autobot spy following us!" Said Starscream. 

"Really?" Chortled the black and purple Seeker as he followed in formation after Starscream and Thundercracker over their personal intercoms. "Well, I guess I got my wish after all."

"Hey, if this wish of yours came true maybe next you should wish for energon to fall out of the sky!" Thundercracker cackled over the line, signaling that he didn't believe it would actually happen for a second, but that it was fun just to jest about it anyway. "No! No! Even better! Why don't you wish us up some fembots eh? Wouldn't that be even better?"

Skywarp joined in on the laughter at this point. "Hahaha! Yeah! I wish we had some electrifying fembots to return back to at Kolkular!"

"Knock it off! The both of you! You're being imbecilic!" Starscream snapped over the intercom, then quickly changed the subject. "Land here. We'll take this Autobot by surprise."

The three Seekers descended from the night sky, transforming in mid-flight they landed with expert grace upon the upturned metal roadways that marked the once busy streets of Kaon.

"Man, this place has really gone to the Pitts hasn't it?" Thundercracker said softly as they landed, looking around at all the dark, crumbling buildings and blackened windows. Street lights that once were bright and lit were broken or simply gone. Pot marks, craters, and laser marks marred the roadway and the sides of the towering buildings that still stood. The once crowded streets were empty, devoid of any life once so ever, not even a retro-rat. Rubble was everywhere, just like the shadows were everywhere.

The Seeker jet happened to glance up at one of the few remaining working street lights. He admired the light that it gave to this otherwise dead, ghostly world. It brought a bit of warmth back to him, despite the extreme cold that seemed to wrap itself around him like a suffocating pipe. He felt…hope.

The street light flickered.

"_Thundercracker…"_

The Decepticon twisted around, catching optics with Skywarp. "You say something?"

The Seeker looked at him as if he was crazy. "No. What's the matter? Yer audios finally giving out after having to put up with your own sonic booms?"

Thundercracker stared back, looking more perplexed now than ever. "But, I heard someone say my name."

"Yeah? And I heard Megatron's looking to retire. What's the matter with you?"

"I said enough of your jabbering dolts!" Broke in Starscream as he stepped between the both of them and began looking them down, both his fists were thrust on his metallic hip plates and looking as if he owned the world. "We have an Autobot to capture, and I'd much rather catch some half-drained Auto-bum than go to some power plant to perform maintenance check. So here's the deal, Skywarp, you take point up there and warn us when he's coming. Thundercracker and I will remain in hiding. When you spot them warp back to us and we'll snag him!"

"Eh," Skywarp said, shrugging his shoulder struts. "Sounds good enough for me." With that he turned and took to the air, heading further up the buildings in search of a potential lookout post. Starscream and Thundercracker looked about and found their own hideouts on either side of the road behind some piles of rubble, hoping to take the Autobot by surprise when he came in a flanking ambush maneuver.

They waited for some long time before the slower Autobot finally caught up with them, except, as Starscream lay crouched behind his fallen debris, he detected not one engine, but two. Curiously he peeked out behind his pile of debris and spied two Cybertronian cars racing towards their location. The one that was in the lead was a red one and the other looked to be some grayish coloration.

A snap and a pop tore the air behind him, and as he whipped around he found himself face to face with a grinning Skywarp. "Hey, Starscream. They're here."

"I've noticed." Starscream languished and rolled his optics back over to the two oncoming Autobots. He dropped a yellow visor over his optics and zoomed in on their position. The red one in front had a flame design emblazed on his hood. The other one, the slower one, was in fact sea-grey. Actually that slower car looked a tad bit familiar. "It seems that Megatron was incorrect in his information. We have _two_ Autobot spies."

"Yeah. _I've_ noticed."

Starscream pulled a face as he retracted the visor from his optics. "Alright. Prepare for the ambush."

Skywarp bunkered down close to Starscream and charged up his lasers, grinning. "This is gonna be good!"

* * *

"Hotrod get back here!" 

"Ah, lighten up Kup! There's no Deceptions around here!" The flaming red Autobot let out a hoot as he slammed on his gas and jumped a pot hole. Kup served around it.

"Except for Shockwave's sentinels and the three up in the air. So get back here by me, lad. There's safety in numbers."

"Numbers snumbers." Hotrod said over their intercoms. If he was in robot mode Kup could practically envision the youth waving away his words of wisdom as if they were nothing more than smoke from his gun barrel. "Three to two. How tough is that going to be?"

Kup never got a chance to respond, or if he did Hotrod didn't hear him. As he zoomed by the only working street light he heard some high-pitched, metal on metal voice scream out, "ATTACK! DEATH TO THE AUTOBOTS!!"

Explosions and laser fire ripped across both sides of his frame. As the young Autobot went speeding through the gunfire he transformed and landed, skirting across the upturned pavement leaving a red and orange skid mark a mile wide, as well as tearing up his frame even more. The terrible flaming pain that ripped across the entire frame of his body only ended as he plummeted face first into another pot hole. It was only then that he realized he had been screaming in agony, that was just about the time that the darkness engulfed him as his systems went into immediate status lock.


	2. Chapter 2, Electrical Problems

**Chapter 2, Electrical Problems**

Thundercracker entered into the elevator back at Kolkular and punched in level six, sector three to reach the Rec Room and officer quarters. The day had been long and relatively boring. After ripping the first Autobot to pieces it had been a relatively simple matter to beat the last half-fueled Autobot down. After that, they had carried the two Autobots back to Kolkular, where Megatron and Shockwave were more than happy to greet them. He didn't know much of what else had become of them, only that whatever Megatron and Shockwave had in store for them it wouldn't be too pleasant. Chances were the two of them would have them singing like chirper-bots before the day was done.

Did they get off from going back to the power plant though? Of course not. They had had to return, only to be put through a long and enduring torture in and of itself. They found nothing wrong with the repairs that had been done to the plant by Shockwave's maintance drones and returned some long Earth hours later.

He was bored out of his CPU. The only entertainment, or at least what entertainment could have been gotten from it, was from ambushing those two Autobots. So, what better way to get rid of boredom than to blow it off in the training room?

Thundercracker leant back against the elevator wall and waited impatiently for the elevator to reach his floor.

The lights began to flicker.

Thundercracker threw his optics up to the single light that illuminated the small moving box and suddenly, rather illy, remembered what had happened earlier that day.

_Ting!...Ting!...Ting!_

One by one the levels went by without the elevator stopping, but despite its working progress he couldn't help but to feel a sinking feeling in the pit of his gut the closer he reached his desired level.

The lights flickered once again but the elevator continued at its speed, maybe even faster.

Thundercracker began to tap his foot nervously against the floor and crossed his arms over his chest plate. After several long, grueling moments, the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened up on the Rec Room that he'd seen earlier. He wasn't quick in getting off either, he stood there, back against the wall, staring out into the large room that, in ages begone, Starscream, Skywarp, and other Decepticons to whom he'd forgotten their names, some who had perished during the war and some that had lived on till this day, had sat and talked in, conversed, played minor games and watched the holovids during their time off. It looked the same as it did then. The room was circular, with the middle part of it going down five steps to another circular bit, where couches lined the walls and a holotable was in the middle, used for playing holo-chest, watching holo-vids, or other minor games. Ringing the walls on the floor even with him were other tables and chairs, pushed up into alcoves in the walls out of the walk way. Smaller holo-t.v.s was placed into each wall at the back of the alcoves. Then finally, though not the last, there was two energon dispensers – though Thundercracker doubted that they worked now, placed on the opposite side of the room from each other so that everyone had equal access to it.

Thundercracker took a hesitant step forward into the room, glancing up towards the lights and then to the door on the other side of the room from him. It didn't open, and the lights didn't flicker.

Everything was as quiet as the dead of space, asides from the humming of the mecha-city's machinery.

Feeling a bit more relaxed, though unable to shake the feeling that something was amiss, Thundercracker proceeded into the room, walked around the circular walkway, and made it too the opposite side of the room where the other door was at. It slid open without a hitch and he stepped right through into the hallway beyond.

The lights in the elevator flickered as the elevator door was shutting, then stopped and the Rec Room lights flickered, but the Decepticon Seeker missed it.

Thundercracker carried on down through the identical corridors until he came to a halt at a short corridor splintering off from the main hall, all the while the lights flickering farther behind, out of his visual range, as if following him. He turned sharply, took five steps down its length, and came up to the door that would enter in upon the training room. Upon detecting his movement, the automatic door slid open, permitting him within.

The training room was massive. It came complete with a targeting range off to his right and four separate small dueling arenas to his left. The two areas were separated by an admirable hallway. Thundercracker knew, if Shockwave had kept to the old schematics of the place, that the wall that jutted out in front of him held the halo-chamber, where lifelike training sessions could take place and actual damage could be gained. An energon dispenser unit was placed just next to the door on his left.

Thundercracker turned to his right and came out into the room harboring the practice range. He steered clear from the holo-chamber door and went immediately to the range. With a simple flip of a switch he activated the course and started blasting away at the drones with Autobot sigils marring their chest plates and arms that he saw.

He wasn't in there for long when he heard the door to the training room slide open behind him as he took a momentary pause from shooting. He expected to hear the heavy footsteps of a Decepticon entering in, but instead he didn't hear a thing. Thundercracker turned around, his metallic ridges creasing together in confusion as he stared off towards the door. "Starscream? Skywarp?" He called out, his voice a bit nervous.

The lights in the training room wavered, the power fading on and off. Thundercracker felt his spark chamber get logged up in his throat as he threw his wide-optics up to the ceiling.

"It's just some cross-wiring. Just some cross-wiring." He repeated to himself, trying to calm his raging nerves, though he didn't know why. He couldn't explain why he was so unsettled. His most primitive of instinctual programming was screaming at him to run, to escape the room and maybe even Kolkular itself. It was screaming at him that something was in the room with him, even though he couldn't see anything. Something was in there, his gut instincts kept screaming at him, something was watching him.

"_Thundercracker…"_

The blue, grey, and silver jet screamed and spun around, shooting off a round of laser bolts from the guns on his arms into the wall to his left. The energy zapped the wall, leaving scorch marks and rather impressing dents.

But there was nothing there. Thundercracker took in a deep breath to calm his over heating auxiliary air intakes and tried lowering his arm, but he couldn't get himself to put it down.

"_Thundercracker…"_

He felt a cold wave sweep up and down his spine as his audios registered the voice. It was hard to determine exactly who it belonged to, but…and call him an Autobot traitor, but through the layers of static that accompanied it, he thought the soft voice sounded….feminine.

"W-who's there?" He cracked out pitifully. He could feel himself shaking in his armor, and not just because of his fear. The air around him became colder and colder, and he couldn't figure out why. He really wasn't happy about it. "Skywarp!" Thundercracker bit out suddenly, his optics searching the room fruitlessly as he began scanning through all his different sets of visions, a yellow visor having come down over his optics to perform just that. "If this is one of your sick jokes it isn't funny! Knock it off!"

The lights in the room flickered once again and Thundercracker caught something as he flipped through his different scanners and looked about the room with his heat-sensitive vision on. As he glanced quickly about the room he had to do a double take on the space right in front of him, or more precisely the wall about a dozen feet in front of him. As the lights flickered he watched, slack jawed and knees buckling together, as the energy flowing throughout the city focused in on that particular point on the wall where he had shot off his laser gun. Once enough of the energy had gathered together at that particular point, a little more than halfway up the wall into a sizeable ball of energy, the lights stopped flickering and the energy exploded outwards across the wall, the electrical energy rippling across the wires and cables and pipes and other intricate machinery hidden behind the plain, tarnished gold walls. But when he quickly switched back to normal view, he couldn't see a thing.

"_Thundercracker…"_

He dropped the yellow visor again and his optics grew large, so large that it would have seemed like they would be in danger of shattering. The wall was talking to him. The _**wall!**_

Or more precisely, the energies fueling Kolkular were speaking to him.

"What in the name of _Primus_…!" Thundercracker began, but cut himself off short. As the static voice faded from the frequencies on the air, the lights flickered once again, and the electrical energy began to focus there once more. After a few more seconds of staring at the strange phenomenon in dumb-founded amazement, the wall, or energies of the base spoke to him again.

"_Come here…."_

Alarms went off in his head, his fear came back tenfold and his most basic, most primitive programming was screaming at him again, screaming at him to run away. But he couldn't. He stood where he was, almost as if his feet were melted to the floor. He felt more accurately then the weight of his several ton metallic body – and he was feeling very heavy. All he could do was look on in horrid fascination.

The energy concentrated itself even further, and all lights went out completely. Thundercracker's optics jumped up to the burnt out lighting, optics wide, unable to process exactly all of what was happening. The electrical energy finally reached its zenith and grew brightly, like some sort of silent explosion. It grew and grew, expanding, until Thundercracker found himself staring, through the wall, at the creature that the energy had become. It had transformed itself into a tall, slender creature, no real detail, just the outline of what it wanted itself to be portrayed as. Its optics, its eyes… they glowed intensely like the fires of a pair of two white suns. If at all possible, Thundercracker's jaw dropped down even further as the energy creature started pulling itself right out of the wall. Its hand… her hand, whatever you wanted to call the thing, that it had already pushed free of the wall tried reaching out for him as it used its other hand to try and pull the rest of itself from the solid, cold, metallic walls.

"_Thundercracker…come here!"_

The Decepticon, trained and hardened through physical pain and delicate training for millions of years, a war hardened veteran of the war, a Transformer that had been there when the war began nine million years ago and could say that he had seen everything that the war had had to throw at him… screamed.

…Thundercracker screamed and fired.

His energy bolts did nothing. Nothing except give the energy creature more strength. It tore itself from the wall after absorbing his shots, and started towards him, drifting across the air like Earth fog. Its hand, her hand, stretched out towards him. Her voice was broken up by the static that overlaid it and distorted it, making her actual feminine voice almost nigh detectable.

"_Thundercracker! Come here!"_

The blue, grey, and silver jet suddenly found the strength of will to run and twisted around, making to run as fast as he could to escape from the creature, but his legs gave out and he crumbled under his own weight. Thundercracker cried out in sheer, undaunted panic as he thrust his hands out to catch himself, regained his balance and then scurried out of the room like a frantic vat-mouse on all fours.

As he neared the door he stumbled to his feet and slammed against it as it began to sluggishly move open for him, more slowly than usual. He didn't even look back as he squeezed out, frantic to get away, and ran down the short hallway, or at least tried too, only that he came up short and tripped over somebody kneeling down in the hall.

"OW! …Say, man! What's the big idea?!"

After coming to a nasty stop after scrapping his armor against the floor, Thundercracker crawled a few feet, throwing a glance over his shoulder every other second. By the time he reached the end of the short hallway he seemed to finally notice the disgruntled Skywarp, who he had knocked over in his rush. The purple jet was pulling himself up off of the floor while at the same time retracting a wire back to his wrist. The control panel to the training room door was off its hinges and on the floor. Skywarp continued shooting Thundercracker a death glare as the jet tried to tell him something but kept spluttering and stumbling over his own words.

Skywarp's glare hardened even further onto Thundercracker. The jet looked like he'd just been jumped by an enraged Optimus Prime in a dark alley.

"What's _wrong_ with you?" Skywarp snapped out again, his patience growing very thin with Thundercracker's behavior. _'Why does he have his visor down?' _"How'd you even _get_ in there?"

Thundercracker pointed frantically at the door behind him. His hand was shaking uncontrollably and he was near hysterics. "Skywarp! There's-there's a –a THING in there! It tried to kill me!"

Skywarp lifted one of his metallic ridges at Thundercracker as his voice cracked in his speech. He seemed about ready to fall apart. "What?" Skywarp grumbled out as he pulled himself up and began to dust himself down. "What _thing_? There should be nothing in there asides from the dumb-drones." Just then Skywarp stopped suddenly, his crimson optics brightening as they landed on Thundercracker. A thin smile cut his faceplate. "Wait, don't tell me, you nearly got your aft kicked by a drone? Is this what this is about?"

Thundercracker continued pushing himself away from the training room on his aft, not even bothering to get up properly and stumble away. He shook his head fervently and practically cried out, "There was this energy creature! Or…or the biggest Kremzeek I ever saw in there Skywarp! Except I couldn't see it except for looking through my heat-vision! It knew my name and told me to come to it! It wants me dead!"

The Decepticon Seeker didn't exactly know what to do. All he could do was look down on Thundercracker and shake his head piteously. This was ridiculous. A giant Kremzeek? "Thundercracker, there's nothing in there. I don't even know how you got in there. There was no energy going to the door!"

"There was!" Thundercracker wailed as he finally found his back up against the wall in the main corridor. He pressed himself up against it as far as he could, and then some. To Skywarp it looked like he just wanted to meld right with it and go…well, anywhere but here.

As much as Skywarp liked a good prank, or seeing others in misery because of it, this was just too much. Seeing Thundercracker like this was just…disconcerting. He had always been a bit of an indecisive pussy but this was too much. He'd charged down and fought an army of Autobots before without ever breaking down like this. Whatever the hell had spooked him and spooked him good.

Sighing, Skywarp glanced back into the opened door into the training room. It stood open, what with having sensed his movement, and remained as so. The room beyond was dark, either because the lights were blown or the lack of power running through the city wasn't enough to power it. He glanced back at the shaking, huddling, whining Thundercracker and couldn't help but scratch his head.

"Well it has energy now. And look," Skywarp further said as he stepped bravely into the darkened room, his own crimson visor coming down and examining both ways. "There's nothing here! I don't see any invisible Kremzeek."

Thundercracker went berserk. "GET OUT OF THERE!" The jet shrieked and lunged for the purple Seeker. Skywarp was taken aback by how quickly Thundercracker moved, so surprised in fact that he didn't do anything as he grabbed his arm and forcibly pulled him from the room and down the hall. It wasn't until he had taken him into the safety of the main corridor that he forced him to look him in the optics, or rather his visor since it was still down, and said breathlessly, "Are you mad?! Didn't you just _**hear**_ what I said?"

Skywarp tore his hand away from Thundercracker, disgusted by this whole ordeal and a bit frightened by Thundercracker's behavior, though he wouldn't admit it, and smacked him smartly across the faceplate. "Do you hear yourself?" Skywarp snarled into his face, pressing his face into Thundercracker's startled one. Their noses were hardly a hairs length apart. "Your being ridiculously! Giant Kremzeek? Pth! What you probably saw was the lighting blowing out or something you nitwit! Now knock it off! There isn't no such thing as giant Kremzeek's or '_energy creatures'_!"

"But–" Thundercracker tried to protest weakly, but a steely glare from Skywarp shut him up.

"There _isn't_ and _wasn't_ one! What you thought you saw you didn't see! Do you understand me?"

"Y-yes."

"Do you?"

"Yes!"

"Good." Skywarp grumbled and slipped his arm over Thundercracker's shoulders, pressing him tightly against him as he led him down the hall, away from the training room. He didn't exactly feel like practicing himself anymore to blow off his own excess energy. Thundercracker's behavior had spoiled that. "Now get rid of that stupid visor of yours and come along. We'll go see Megatron about rations, alright? See if we can't have a bit of energon to sip on to calm yourself down."

Thundercracker could only nod his head. His mind was already trying to deny everything he'd just gone through and take Skywarp's explanation as what had actually happened. His body though still echoed from the encounter long after they had seen Megatron and had been approved for an energon cube apiece.

* * *

Soundwave entered into the Medbay of Kolkular and spotted Megatron straight away. His commander was standing over the battered carcasses of one of the two Autobots that the Seekers had dragged in. Soundwave took note of the red and orange mess on the table, and deemed the Autobot beyond hope of repair. Apparently the Seekers had accomplished their job a bit too nicely, but Megatron apparently had other ideas. He was hunched over the Autobot's chest, of which had been disgarded elsewhere, his arms drenched in his blue lifeblood as he went about repairing what he could. A multitude of wires and heavy cables were connected to his head and plugged into the main vital lines to his spark chamber, helping to keep it stabilized. 

The blue tape deck started forwards, edging closer, curious as to why Megatron was even bothering to save his life. "Greetings Megatron. You called." Soundwave intoned in his harmonic vocal unit. Megatron didn't answer him. Instead he continued on with his work, apparently deeply interested in his repairs. Soundwave tried again, this time he stood right behind Megatron and repeated, "You called for me, Lord Megatron."

That got his attention. Megatron blinked his crimson optics, coming out of whatever reviee he had entered. Soundwave didn't dare read his mind to find out what it was, he had tried such a thing a long time ago, sometime after he had met Megatron…he never tried it again. The silver Decepticon glanced slowly over his shoulder, took note of Soundwave and looked a little…surprised. If that was really the word for it.

"Soundwave…I didn't here you enter. What is it?"

"You called." Soundwave toned again, this time cocking his head an inch at Megatron. His lack of attention to his surroundings was worrying him just a bit.

"Oh, yes. Yes I did." Megatron said impassively as he went about removing some damaged wiring and sealing off a busted rod. "Starscream reported that, asides from lack of any energy at the plant, there was nothing amiss. How went your search in the power room?"

Soundwave very much doubted that Megatron had dragged him up here just for this. He could have simply asked him that while he was still down there searching. His optics rested again on the Autobot as Megatron continued going about his business. "I did find something rather…peculiar."

"That makes two of us." Megatron muttered, his big thick hands delving further into the mess of the 'bot's systems.

Soundwave ignored the comment and continued on, but as he reported his find he took a look around the station Megatron was working in, trying to find a means to what had him so distracted. "While I was examining Kolkular's schematics and power usage, a rather unexplained amount of energy was transferred over to the training room and then…vanished."

"Vanished?" Megatron repeated, an optic rising as he spared Soundwave a rather curious glance.

The large blue Transformer nodded. "Yes, vanished."

"Energy doesn't _vanish_. It's used, and not all of it can be _used_. What about energy emissions? A leakage in the wires somewhere? I want to know where it went and why!"

"I'm still searching for the reasons why, Lord Megatron. I had begun a search of all power outages in that area when you called."

"And what did you discover?"

"I'm still looking into it."

Megatron grumbled something incoherent as he welded another leaking cable shut and then finally stepped back from the Autobot and grabbed a rag off of the nearby medical trolley. The towel in itself was made on Cybertron. It was constructed from soft, thin fibers of flexi-metal.

"There was another reason why you called me here."

It wasn't a question, but a statement and Megatron knew that. He glanced side-long at Soundwave and then back to the Autobot. For as long as it took him to whip off his hands he stared at the grey-faced enemy of the Autobot before him. Then, once he had finished with his hands, he tossed the dirty towel onto the trolley and headed over for a computer terminal not to far away, in fact the bunch of multicolored wires that were attached to the Autobot's head were linked to the computer, while the thicker cables pumping energy and stabilizing his spark chamber were connected to another medical machine not far away from that.

"It seems that Shockwave wasn't the only one performing experiments while we were away…" Megatron said softly to no one unparticular as he took a seat at the desk and began typing in things into the flashing monitor screen.

Soundwave looked at Megatron strangely behind his battle mask, but didn't say a word.

After a moment of nothing else but the clicking of Megatron's thick black fingers on the plasma keyboard, he said, more louder than before. "I've changed my mind, Soundwave. I do not require your assistance. Continue on with your work back in the Power Room, if I decide that I do need your expertise…I'll call."

Behind his yellow visor and battle mask, Soundwave gave a rather bemused face at his leader. For Megatron to bother him from his work, and then send him away without any explanation…. He was really the only Decepticon Megatron trusted, if he couldn't trust him with this than what did that mean? A series of even more befuddled, confused, and downright angry thoughts flashed through his mind within an instant, but his voice, as ever, was emotionless as he said, "Yes Megatron." He turned around, and started back for the Medbay door, lost in thought. He stopped just short of it and turned halfway back around, his optics landing on the red and orange Autobot. "Do you require any assistance in repairing the Autobot, Megatron?"

"No. I'm quite capable. Now leave Soundwave! I need privacy!"

Megatron hadn't even bothered to look over his shoulder at him, he simply waved his hand back at him and went to work, his full attention focused on his finds. Whatever they were.

Soundwave didn't like it, not one bit. And what was it that Megatron had muttered? _"It seems that Shockwave wasn't the only one performing experiments while we were away…" _What did _**that**_ mean?

"Soundwave! Wait!"

The blue Transformer just stopped short of leaving the room. He had one foot out in the corridor and the other in the Medbay. He turned fully about, glad that Megatron had changed his mind, but such ideas faltered when he saw Megatron turned about in his seat, fixing him with a rather serious and curious glare. "Did you say the _training room _had the energy flux in it?"

Feeling a bit down, but getting over it, Soundwave nodded. "Yes, Megatron."

A look of consideration overtook his face for the first time during their encounter, at least for what Soundwave had informed. "Skywarp and Thundercracker had come in here a bit earlier asking for access to the energon cube storage. Skywarp had mentioned something about some incident in there that had spooked Thundercracker. The foolish jet did seem a bit shaken…" Megatron eyed Soundwave, and said, his voice a bit hopeful, "Perhaps the two are linked. I doubt Thundercracker will be in a mood to discuss it, he looked rather shaken, so you know what to do…"

"I understand." Soundwave toned in his harmonic voice and turned to leave.

"Oh, and Soundwave!" Megatron called after him.

Once again the Decepticon paused and turned around, his yellow visor flashing in curiousness. "I want the report to the missing energy on my desk by tomorrow, Earth time."

Soundwave waited patiently to see if that was all. Megatron nodded and turned back to his own work, saying, "You're dismissed."

Before Soundwave fled he leaned over once more to try and capture what Megatron was doing on the medical computer. All he glimpsed was a schematic of the Autobot's systems. For some reason, he didn't know why, it looked a bit familiar.


End file.
